


Satellites

by dearly



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-11-05 08:47:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11010009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearly/pseuds/dearly
Summary: The moments leading up to now.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It don't matter cause it's enough / **To be young and in love** \- [Lana del Rey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-NTv0CdFCk)

A gust of wind picks up and swirls the fallen leaves around him as he walks back to the Andrews’. The damp heaviness in the air means that he likely only has minutes before getting drenched in a cold shower so he stuffs his hands deeper in his pockets and hurries along. As he crosses a street to cut through the graveyard, a woman passing by gives him an odd look while clutching her purse to her chest and it’s only then that he realizes he’s still smiling.

He must look like a psychopath—as if he didn’t already draw enough attention being a Southside kid in this part of town with its cookie cutter houses and manicured lawns. He’d heard the whispers that follow him, _there goes that Jones boy,_ and seen the smug looks that accompany them. Since he’s been staying with Archie and his dad, he’s felt it more than ever.

But today he doesn’t care.   

For the first time in a long time, he doesn’t feel so much like a trespasser. Even with the threat of rain looming, there’s a bounce in his step, a joyfulness brought on by recent events and the anticipation of more to come. 

There’d always been a distance between the two of them. Not an unfriendly one, just a natural separation born out of circumstance. He was the third wheel, the forever outsider. Betty had had her heart set on Archie since they were young kids, even if wasn’t reciprocated to the same degree and Jughead certainly wasn’t going to ever bring that up. So he lived in the background until Archie bailed on their summer road trip and he exiled himself from the group completely, spending the summer writing in a booth at Pop’s with a cup of coffee as his only companion.

But when Betty asked him to join the Blue and Gold, everything had changed. As they started working together on the Blossom case, the feelings came back tenfold. The secret crush he’d always harbored for her suddenly didn’t need to remain quite so secret as Archie had finally made his feelings towards her clear. 

He never was one to be spontaneous, especially in matters of the heart, and tended instead of overanalyze ever minute decision that ever crossed his path. Perhaps it was an effect of watching his dad split up the family with his drinking and the realization that he would have to look out for himself. There was always that fear of rejection leading him to hold onto his feelings.

With Betty, though, it clicked instantly once there were no barriers between them. They’d always had a good rapport, but as they spent more time together there had been an undeniable  _something more_ between them. More than colleagues, more than friends. So he went for it, surprising even himself by pulling a Romeo and knocking at her window. The fact that she’d returned the kiss just as eagerly gave him hope, the first bit that he’d felt in a long time. That moment, that kiss—it just felt like all the pieces finally fit.

Solving a murder shouldn’t be this enjoyable, but since there wasn’t anything he could do for Jason Blossom now except working to bring his killer to justice, it wasn’t going to prevent him from embracing this burgeoning glimpse of happiness.

 _And if the side effect was making all the Northsiders uncomfortable_ , he thinks, his grin widening,  _he’d take it. Any day._

 

* * *

 

With Polly safe at the Lodges, she’s finally able to stop and breathe for the first time in weeks. An extra long bath helps soothe some of the tension in her shoulders as she tries to think of anything other than the case. With it being so ingrained in her life now though, it’s virtually impossible.

No matter what happens at least she’s spared her sister from having to give birth alone in that dreary convent. The case may be far from solved but this fact gives her peace of mind, if only briefly.

She sleeps through her alarm and shows up to school a little later than usual the next morning. He’s already in the Blue and Gold room furiously typing at a computer with his hat sitting slightly askew on his head. Judging by the empty coffee cup and granola bar wrappers scattered next to him on the desk, he’s probably been there for hours already.

Her stomach flutters a little as she watches him engrossed in his work. Then, unable to resist, she walks over and gently pulls the beanie back in place.

His head snaps up and then upon seeing her gives a lopsided grin that stirs her insides even more. “Oh hey. I’ve been doing a little digging in the archives,” he says pointing at the screen.

He launches into a detailed explanation about the location of the woods where they found Jason’s car relative to Sweetwater River.

She throws her backpack onto the table and listens while trying not to be distracted by the lock of hair that’s fallen into his eyes as he gestures his hands wildly and points out locations on the bulletin board map.

She likes to see him like this: animated, excited, passionate. He’s mostly a laid-back type of guy but when he’s into something he’s fully engaged. It’s an energy that she can’t help but feed off of.

When she’d decided to restart the Blue and Gold, there was only one name that came to mind as far as who she wanted on her team. Not only had Jughead already been doing some digging, but he was the one person she trusted completely.  

Looking back it’s amazing how much more it means now after only a few short weeks. What they share goes beyond a working relationship, it’s become something more.

She looks at Jughead now and sees something familiar, like the fog suddenly clearing in her mind. 

He’s been there all along, she just hadn’t been looking. As any detective might say, she’d missed what had been right in front of her.

That kiss had been a pleasant surprise because she’d been holding back not sure if he was feeling it too. 

But he was and it felt almost too good to be true, even in the midst of a murder investigation.

He clears his throat snapping her out of her reverie.

No matter what this case has in store she knows that this, at least, she can count on. 

This is real. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on tumblr @ [ thiscaringlark](http://thiscaringlark.tumblr.com/) where I'm currently Bughead obsessed. Feel free to say hi!


	2. Chapter 2

She really doesn’t expect him to come, even though Veronica had acted like it some kind of boyfriend responsibility. At the time, she’d just been more shaken by hearing the _b-word_ spoken out loud for the first time to really have even considered whether Jughead would attend her sister’s baby shower. 

But as he’s done so often in their short time together, he surprises her—by wanting to be involved with the planning, even helping her with the decorations and grocery shopping, and seeming to enjoy it. 

The night before the shower they order pizza at the Lodges’ as they put the finishing touches on the decorations and he seems just at home amongst the group of women as he does in a booth at Pop’s. Even with Veronica and Polly’s gentle teasing, he remains unfazed and sits happily in the center of the room blowing up pastel-colored balloons as they discuss the depressing pink or blue gendered nature of the baby industry.

After Polly goes to bed early, they decide to put in a DVD which leads to a heated debate between Jughead and Veronica about the best romantic black and white films (Veronica’s being _Roman Holiday_ , while Jughead prefers  _Casablanca_ ), though it quickly turns into more of a bonding session when they find they shared many of the same favorites. She enjoys watching them interact, these two seemingly opposites, and is glad that they’ve found some common ground. Somehow they end up ditching the idea to play Clue and Betty’s years as a detective-obsessed pre-teen work in her favor as she easily wins three straight games. 

Once they’re alone though, walking home in the early hours of the morning, he’s unusually quiet and she can tell by his one-word answers and lack of eye contact that there is something weighing on his mind. She vaguely remembers him getting a text earlier that had made him flinch.

The next day it becomes even more apparent when Archie tries to get him to go to a Serpent bar and then leaves in a huff when Jughead refuses. Apparently the confrontation has to do with the vandals that attacked Moose when they were helping out Mr. Andrews.

When she asks him about it later, he waves it off as nothing. She wants to press him further, but the party starts and her focus turns toward keeping her mother from getting into a knockdown drag-out battle with Mrs. Blossom.

It ends up not requiring further questioning, because Archie shows up in the midst of the party and spills the beans.

Jughead’s dad is a Serpent.

It isn’t really a shock to her, _surprising_ _yes_ given what some of the gang members have been accused of in the past, but her concern is more for Jughead and what it means now that this information is out in the open. He’s already dealt with the police prying into his history, now the kids at school are likely going to be brutal.

She doesn’t want him to revert to old habits and hold things back from her or feel embarrassed by the difference in their family situations. He can’t help what happened to his, and hers, with her parents currently at each others’ throats, certainly isn’t anything to brag about. They may be at opposite ends of the financial spectrum but she doesn’t give a shit about that.

She hopes she’d made it clear enough, because what they have is too good to let slip through the cracks. She will fight for them, she just hopes Jughead will too.

 

* * *

 

He should’ve known his father would somehow be caught up in this mess.

The town may not be rife with crime, at least nothing like the murder case they’re dealing with now, but when there  _is_  trouble it seemed it could always be traced back to the Serpents and their shady dealings on either side of the law.

But he believes F.P. when he says he’s no murderer. He has to. To even think of the possibility that perhaps—

_No_. He can’t. He wouldn’t allow his mind to even go  _there_. His dad may be many things, but a murderer he is _not_.

Despite his initial hesitation, it’s a comfort to have Betty beside him when he confronts his father. 

When his mother and sister had left for Ohio and his father spiraled into a drunken stupor, he’d learned how to be alone. It was part coping mechanism, part survival. He’d turned to his love of writing to distract from the domestic drama that was his life and when the Blossom case first broke, began working on his version of  _In Cold Blood_  to fill the long, dull hours. It wasn’t until he started dating Betty that he even realized how isolated he’d really become.

Betty’s the one constant in his life, his North Star, and he regrets not telling her about his father sooner, vowing to himself and to her to be more open going forward. He’s seen what a lack of communication could do to a family, to a friendship, and he doesn’t want the same to happen to their relationship. It’s too precious. This is one part of his life that he can’t afford to screw up.

Even in the tenuous circumstance, introducing her to his father is an important first step and he feels a weight lift from his shoulders. She’s a part of his life now, not just a school mate or a girl he dates. She’s seen the good and bad and still stands besides him despite it all. 

What he hadn’t expected to feel upon leaving that trailer, with the starry sky stretched out above as a soothing backdrop, is a different kind of stirring in heart, a warm deep ache lodged somewhere he can’t quite identify. When she turns around and catches his eye, he’s surprised when he doesn’t melt into the earth. 

He’s taken the leap and now he’s falling.  _By God,_  he is falling.

Though he’s never quite experienced this before, there’s only one word that comes to mind to describe the feeling now coursing through his system. _Strange how something could be so new, yet feel so familiar._

It feels like a jinx to name it yet, even to himself, but he knows it’s only a matter of time before he lands.


	3. Chapter 3

When he pulls her in for a hug, it’s the safest feeling in the world.

She just wants to stay in this moment wrapped in his warmth and wait for the dark clouds around her to dissipate.

Her family is crumbling right in front of her and there’s nothing she can do to stop it.

Her sister has decided to put herself and her unborn child in the hands of the one family in town that possibly wishes her harm and who still remain suspects in the death of their son. Her parents are fighting and now her father’s betrayal has gotten him kicked out of the house. The story of her mother throwing a brick through the newspaper office window has been the hottest piece of gossip in the town for the past week and she hears the whispers whenever she goes out in public.

No matter what she does, no matter how hard she works to fix all of these messes, they just seem to keep piling up, one on top of the other. She’s always had a need for control and order and now the very foundation that her life is built upon has been shaken to the core.

Her palms burn, but fighting the urge she instead curls her fingers into fists, covering up the faint half-moon scars.

Jughead can feel her tensing up again so he rubs a hand gently across her back.

“Hey, don’t worry,” he says in a low, soothing voice. “We’ll figure this out. I promise.”

She allows herself to believe him, even if it’s only for a moment, before finally pulling away to wipe away the tears before the mascara runs down her cheeks.

He insists on handling the rest of the day’s investigating duties on his own and walks her home with promises to call if he makes any important discoveries.

Her mother is out, likely grocery shopping since her stress-baking tendencies have cleaned out their kitchen, so she immediately heads upstairs to change into pajamas before curling up on the couch in front of the TV with a big bowl of ice cream.

He calls when she’s in the middle of _The Princess Bride_ to check in. He’s been studying old property records and so far the dull work hasn’t turned up anything useful but he texts her a picture he’s found of a youthful, long-haired Fred Andrews and it’s the first time she’s laughed that day.

Her mom’s car pulls in the driveway but before she hangs up to help bring in the groceries there’s one thing she wants to say.

“Jug?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. For being there and... for everything. I really don’t know what I would do without you. It just-it really means a lot. Even with everything going on I feel lucky. To have you.”

There’s a moment of silence on his end of the line. Based on what she knows, she can’t imagine many people have ever said anything of the sort to him and the thought breaks her heart. 

He deserves so much more than he’s been given.

At last, she hears him swallow before speaking, his voice quiet and sincere. “I’ll always be here for you, Betty.”

 

* * *

 

It’s sometime after two in the morning when he finally makes it back to the house. Though it’s quiet as he enters, the evidence of the party is strewn across every possible surface of the living and dining rooms just begging Mr. Andrews to walk in the door and ground Archie until he’s twenty-one. He cleans up some of the trash and empties a few cups of half-drunk beer before realizing that to make even a small dent in the mess will require more energy than he can possibly muster at the moment.

Instead of heading upstairs and risking waking a hungover Archie, he collapses on the couch and tries to find a comfortable position to get a few hours of rest. His head is pounding even though he hasn’t had a drop of alcohol; the stinging cut on his face and ache in his hand don’t help matters. Betty had found some aspirin in her purse which had eased the pain somewhat, but when he thinks about some of the things he’s said and done that night his head throbs all over again.

The memory of his speech to Betty early that evening particularly stung in light of what she’d just revealed to him.

He’d always felt like an outsider, knowing some of it was due to his own making, but the walls he’d built to protect himself also caused him to sometimes fail at recognizing a fellow soul. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that everyone else at school had ideal lives with perfect families. Everyone had their own troubles, both internal and external. Maybe it was just that he had a hard time identifying with his classmates on a personal level as a result of differing interests and past-times that he didn’t get to know them well enough to find out who they really were.

For one thing, he hated these drunken revelries that seemed to be how everyone his age spent their Friday nights. He wasn’t against alcohol, but due to what he’d dealt with in his own family, the idea of getting wasted for fun lacked any appeal. He’d rather spent his free time watching an old film or going for a nighttime drive up to the mountains with his dad’s old telescope.

At these parties, he just saw a bunch of kids trying to be rebellious but only conforming to typical teenage stereotypes. 

But this night hadn’t been Betty’s fault. She hadn’t meant for it to turn out this way. She’d just wanted to do something nice for his birthday with some of their, or really _her_ , close friends. 

When she’d shown him the cuts on her palms, he realized what an asshole he’d been for not realizing sooner.

While Betty’s been dealing with family drama, she’s also been living with her own demons and if he hadn’t been so dense and caught up in his own problems he might’ve seen it earlier.

The truth was that sometimes he was just so in awe of her and the fact that she wanted to be with him that it blinded him from seeing things from her perspective.

He wished he’d had the right words to say, but instead he’d kissed her scars and listened as she told him about her struggles with anger and anxiety. She’d gone to a therapist when she’d first started high school and thought it had helped, but the stress she was currently under had brought back old habits and worries.

He doubted many people outside her family knew, after all she was Betty Cooper: straight-A honor roll student, Riven Vixen, editor-in-chief, with a sunshine disposition and a smile for everybody she encountered. Who would ever suspect?

There had been a shift in their relationship tonight, a deeper level of understanding that went far beyond what he’d ever expected to feel for another person. 

If he had any lingering worries that these feelings may not be returned to the same degree, those were wiped away as she’d rested her head on his shoulder and spilled out her deepest, darkest secrets.

He shifted on the couch and pulled back the blinds to see the moon shining between the trees.

There were battles still to be fought, hurdles yet to overcome, but having one sure thing, one certainty to hold onto, made the world seem altogether less frightening.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for kudos and comments! I appreciate every single one.


	4. Chapter 4

Last year, homecoming hadn’t even been on his radar; like most school events it was just another day he’d tried to ignore as much as possible. Unfortunately, due to the heavily glittered signs lining the hallways and the other kids’ constant chatter before classes, reminding him every day of its looming presence, this was easier said than done. He’d ended up spending that night reorganizing the shelves in the Twilight projector room with  _Carrie_  streaming on his laptop as a joke to himself.

But that lonely night felt like a lifetime ago, before he’d started dating the head of the homecoming dance committee, before he’d joined the school paper. For being an self-proclaimed outcast, he sure was now awfully  _involved_.

Surprising himself, however, he was actually enjoying the participation, at least when it involved helping Betty with the planning by bouncing ideas around or writing articles together in-between work on the Blossom case. Basically anything that involved working with Betty had quickly become his new favorite past-time.

While he could care less about the actual dance itself, he was looking forward to taking Betty as a date and sharing this moment with her, one that she’d worked so hard for. It filled him with a sort of pride when the idea would have made his eyes roll a few short months ago. 

He may never admit it, but after feeling so much like an outsider his whole life, this sort of teenage ritual represented a kind of normalcy that he’d always longed to have. And even if it wasn’t his ideal way of spending his time, Betty had a way of making anything enjoyable, always finding a way to make the best in any given situation. He sometimes wondered if she had some sort of special abilities to be able to turn his angsty, sarcastic self into something of a optimist.

With the sudden arrival of Mrs. Andrews, he thankfully hadn’t had to deal with much teasing from Archie and Mr. Andrews who had both listened to his endless rants about dances in years past. 

Also improving his mood was the fact that his dad was looking, and acting, like a decent, contributing member of society. When Mrs. Cooper asked them to dinner, he didn’t even have to hesitate before accepting.

They could do this. They could be a normal family, maybe not like the Coopers but at least perhaps a functional one.

Being with Betty had shown him not to jump to conclusions about the people in the affluent parts of town. Her family had its own issues, just with more money to deal with them when times got tough. But after seeing Betty battling her anxiety, he knew that it mattered little.

The dinner turns out to be tense, which he feels like was to be expected given their parents’ turbulent histories. Though she’s welcoming them into her home, it’s not like Alice Cooper is going to change overnight.

His father, however, seems to take it as a sign that maybe they just don’t belong in Riverdale after all.

 _Toledo_. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it before - a fresh start without all the baggage, swapping record collections with his sister, helping his mother with her night classes.

But his priorities had changed since then. He’d finally found a sense of belonging in Riverdale. Things were good for the first time since his family had split apart.

And he couldn’t separate from Betty now, not after everything they’d been through together, not when they were making process on a case that affected the whole town.

Toledo could wait. There were still summers ahead. 

An image of Betty in the passenger seat of his dad’s truck floats around in his mind; the epic road trip he’d always wanted to take suddenly took form with a destination and a partner to go along with it.

As the night wears on, he fights back a rising sense of panic brough on by the weird mood in the gym. Betty seems distracted but he figures it’s just due to her responsibilities as committee head.

Sheriff Keller’s sudden appearance, though, is the first sign that all is indeed not well.

Betty, Archie, and Veronica’s whisperings in the hallway is the second.

Archie has let him down before so it doesn’t come as that much of a surprise. He doesn’t know Veronica that well so he can’t even muster up the energy to be angry with her.

But Betty - that is the knock-out punch that leaves him too stunned to think straight.

By the time he hears of his father’s arrest, he’s already made his decision. This time he’s taking his father’s advice.

 _Run_.

 

* * *

 

That little voice inside had warned her that it would come to this and yet she still wasn’t prepared for it - that look of hurt and betrayal in his eyes upon discovering her involvement in her mother and Veronica’s schemes.

All the trust they’d built, all the progress they’d made, wiped away in an instant, because she hadn’t wanted to disappoint him about a family dinner.

When he takes off into the cold, wet night, she honestly doesn’t blame him. Finding out his closest friends have gone behind his back and his father was arrested for murder in one fell swoop - it was too much for any one person to handle. Even for someone like Jughead who is used to disappointment.

She doesn’t run after him because even if she finds him she’s not sure what she could say that would make any difference. Though she hadn’t known about Veronica and Archie searching FP’s trailer, she still could’ve warned Jughead about what her mother was doing and put a stop to it, maybe to this whole mess. 

The Andrews’ give her a ride home; Mary and Fred try to make light conversation about the dance but she and Archie are too ashamed of what they’ve done to join in making for an uncomfortable few minutes. 

When she arrives home, her mother is already there, having flown the scene the minute Sheriff Keller had shown up. Alice had gotten what she’d wanted all along - a headline for her story. It didn’t matter that FP hadn’t even been charged with anything yet; his innocence or guilt was of little consequence to her. The arrest alone was enough for a week’s worth of front-pages.

Somehow her angry outburst at her mother leads to a confession of love, which surprises even herself. Though she’s never spoken it out loud, she’d finally admitted to herself a few days earlier, after coming in the most ordinary of ways—a text in the middle of the night.

 

*****

 

At 2:43 am her phone dings just as she’s about to head downstairs for a glass of water. Archie must have been snoring and keeping him awake, though she’s heard from Archie that Jughead is a sound sleeper and has the ability to fall asleep anywhere, which she wonders is a result his nights spent homeless.

 

_**window?** _

 

He must have some kind of sixth sense to know that she too had been tossing and turning into the early hours, unable to sleep due to stress about the dance and everything she still had to plan. 

She takes a moment to let her pulse return to normal, but it matters little because seeing him in the dim light of the next-door window, hair mussed and pajamas wrinkled, sets off her heart rate again.

Seeing her appear from behind the curtain, he gives a shy, crooked smile and it hits her before she even realizes it.

Every other time she’s looked through this window and seen a boy it’d been Archie. She’d watched him grow up from this spot, convincing herself through the years that he was the person she was destined to be with, the person she loved. 

But the now the contrast is overwhelming. She’d never loved Archie, not in that way. Even though he’d broken her heart, she’s known since his rejection that it was a fantasy she’d built in her mind - that’s what had hurt most, to have a dream shattered.

But this boy looking back at her now is different. Not a fantasy built on idea of what she wants, but a flesh and blood reality.

 

She loves Jughead.

 

He looks down at his phone, probably wondering from her body language what the hell she’s thinking, and starts typing.

 

_**sorry. i hope i didn’t wake you.** _

_it’s ok. i wasn’t able to sleep either!_

 

She returns the smile and watches as he leans lazily against the window frame, wishing suddenly that she could cross the divide and wrap herself in his warm familiar scent.

They text a few minutes more about trivial Blue and Gold business, he has some ideas for future articles that he wants to run by her, and she’s almost shattered when he says he’s going to head downstairs to sleep on the couch. She's not ready to lose this moment just yet.

But when she gets back into bed after heading downstairs for a glass of water, there is one more text waiting for her.

 

_**you know, cooper? you’re alright.** _

__

She imagines him typing it out, snuggled on the couch with Vegas curled at his feet and feels warmth spread to her toes before she even gets under the covers. Smiling dreamily, she lays her head back on the pillow and types her response.

 

_good. cause i’ve got plans for you, jones._

 

_*****_

 

Now, she thinks heading out into the cold night once again, she just might have ruined all that.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm not the only one who feels we were robbed of a Betty and Jug window scene. They were living next door to each other - how did this not happen?!?!
> 
> Anyways, sorry it's been too long! I've been busy reading the amazing fics all of you are writing. It's hard to keep up.
> 
> Thank you for kudos and comments - I love them all!

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr @ [ thiscaringlark](http://thiscaringlark.tumblr.com/) where I'm currently Bughead obsessed. Feel free to say hi!


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